Last week legislative days 9-12 introduced new bills regarding Medicaid expansion. There were a host of election integrity bills and continued discussions on budgets. The Senate Appropriations Committee finalized their substitute budget proposal and other bills we are tracking made significant movement. Monday begins legislative day 13 and lawmakers will convene Thursday, February 11th.

The Senate Appropriation Committee released a substitute to the Amended FY 2021 on Thursday, February 4th. Review the bill as passed out of the Senate Appropriations Committee below. The full Senate is expected to take up the amended budget next week.

There were a handful of new bill emerging in the Legislature throughout last week, many of which are listed below. For a full list of the bills we are tracking and their current status, download our legislative update.

HB 42: authored by Senator Jeff Mullis (R-Chickamauga), amends O.C.G.A. § 20-14-33 to stipulate that school climate determinations not include student discipline data. This bill was referred to the Senate Education & Youth Committee and they met to hear the bill on February 3rd.

SB 20 authored by Senator Chuck Payne (R-Dalton), amends O.C.G.A. § 15-11-747 to add three new members to the Child Advocate Advisory Committee. These new members include a current or former foster parent to be appointed by the Governor, a former foster child that reached the age of majority or graduated from high school while in the foster care system to be appointed by the Lt. Governor, and an individual that served at least three years as a court appointed special advocate to be appointed by the Speaker of the House.

After the presentation on February 1st, the Youth and Education Committee unanimously recommended the bill "DO PASS".

This past Tuesday, February 2nd, the Health and Human Services Committee introduced its newest three members. More about each of the senators can be discovered below.

Michelle Au - 48th District

Sonya Halpern- 39th District

Bo Hatchet - 50th District

Kay Kirkpatrick - 32nd District

This past Wednesday, February 3rd, the committee met to consider bill SB4 (authored by Senator Kay Kirkpatrick (R-Marietta), relates to substance abuse treatment programs. The bill creates a new Article within Chapter 5 of Title 26 to prohibit substance abuse providers from receiving referral fees or reimbursement related to patient referrals. The bill also amends Title 33 to prevent unfair billing practices for drug testing in substance abuse programs.)

Senator Kirkpatrick presented. After the presentation, many spoke in favor of the bill (Charmin Talley, Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Recovery Residences; Missy Owen, CEO of the Davis Direction Foundation; and Jeff Breedlove of the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse)

"This week my administration announced our “Teacher Pipeline” legislative package to recruit, prepare, mentor, and retain the best educators...We will continue to invest in critical resources for educational success. We will recruit and champion the best educators our state has to offer, and we’ll continue to lead the nation in preparing young learners to tackle the challenges of the 21st Century."

-Georgia's Governor; Brian Kemp

Read more here.

 MHA Formal Request to President Biden

Mental Health America, along with the Kennedy Forum and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, sent a letter to President Biden urging him to integrate a strong mental health response into his administration’s effort to fight COVID-19. Read the full letter here. 

Many Executive Orders have been signed that advance MHA’s priorities, including expanding access to healthcare through the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid and Advancing Equity in the Federal Government. We were also glad to see an end to privatization of prisons as part of our effort to reduce the criminalization of mental health conditions and improve mental health care for those incarcerated. Copies of the Executive Orders can be found here.  

The President had proposed $1.9T. In a positive development for the mental health community, both the President’s plan and the Republican alternative include $4B for mental health and addiction services, divided between SAMHSA (3.5B) and HRSA (.5B). Neither plan has additional details, and MHA has supported the overall investment while pointing out the need to increase the workforce, especially peer support specialists, and our commitment to early intervention, equity, and a better crisis system. 

Mental Health America of Georgia hosted a series of virtual town halls to inform and advocate for Georgia’s communities impacted by mental health conditions. The town halls offered information and recommendations on the political determinants of Mental Health and Wellness. Each town hall topic discussed the intersection of mental health in the community and policy recommendations to improve mental health outcomes in specific population groups. Please review our past town halls to become more informed of the impacts in our communities.

For free and confidential emotional support or resource information as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, call or text 866-399-8938.